Responding to its Vision of “A knowledgeable, progressive, diverse, and economically vibrant Rowan County,” the Rowan Public Library has identified its Mission as:

“Inspiring the spirit of exploration and the power of imagination, promoting the joy of reading, and supporting the life long pursuit of knowledge for all people.”

Accordingly, the Library must respond to a diverse client base by providing a complex mix of information services in a variety of formats. Clearly, the Library will continue to build its collections and deliver its services to respond to that wide-ranging demand.

In so doing, the Library will focus on seven areas of emphasis in developing special efforts and concentrating its resources. Selected in response to general demand, the Library’s professional expertise, and the Library’s assessment of community needs developed through its 2003 strategic planning process-- one that involved substantial direct citizen participation-- they are:

The pages that follow cover these areas in detail, listing a general goal for each and the specific objectives and the actions needed to realize their attainment. Also identified is the individual on the Library staff with lead responsibility for making each objective is successfully addressed as well as the criteria that will determine whether or not that success has been achieved.

As a public agency, the Rowan Public Library has an attendant responsibility to define its program of work in a manner that allows an evaluation of its effectiveness not only by its policy and staff leadership, but by the public in general. This strategic plan does, we are convinced, provide such a means.